InstrumentalityOne wrote:BrikHaus´ opinions may be unpopular, but we actually NEED people like him.
I´d rather have someone hate my favorite shows than everybody loving it and blindly giving it 10 out of 10s.
Looking at different parts of an anime and praise the better done bits and criticizing the disappointing bits is not the same as giving anime 10 out of 10s all the time... Not to say the absolute needlessness to use cursing words to trash a whole show just for the heck of it. Anyway...
By the way, I like Welcome to NHK too (perhaps the manga more than the anime though)
InstrumentalityOne wrote:I watched
Infinite Stratos 2.
Ugh, I´m on the verge of dropping this due to this turdy episode.
I don´t like how the protagonist tries to be a Touma of some sorts(and fails at it) and how Houki´s character is so stupidly confusing most of the time.(even for a tsundere)
INFINITE STRATOSSince you mentioned Infinite Stratos ep.2 I would voice my opposite view. The I.S. ep.2 basically sealed the deal for me to watch the whole anime! The mecha fighting scene is exceptionally well done - I watched the scene 3 times in a row. I love its speed and flow, and the way it rolled the camera to follow the dogfight. I also like the mecha design that shows IS as a combination of disparate parts apparently held together by some field instead of a piece of connected limbs and parts. My decision to expect more from mecha instead of fan service paid off - in fact the level of fan service is pretty low... The way the first match is ended is also not really what I expected -- an interesting way to explain a bit more about I.S.
I think the main guy Ichika has enough kindness and commonsense to take initiative to connect to Houki (which Touma would never do unless the other side is clearly in need of help) I like the way the anime focused more on what Houki is thinking - the way she looks in conflict is not out of expectation for a tsundere but it still looks interesting - the way she would use her elder sister that she disliked so much to fend off a senior girl's approach to Ichika is funny. And I finally find out why Houki look and sound like I have heard it before -- she is voiced by Hisaka Youko, who voiced Shino in Seitokai-yakuin-tomo. Shino looks a bit like Houki already...
On the other hand, I am more disappointed at Cecilia's more steroetyped portrayal as a ojosama tsundere. She also seems to fall for Ichika a bit too quickly (to make way for the Chinese girl I suppose).
It seems the ED is designed to evolve as the story moves forward - ep.1 has only 2 running but ep.2 has 3 running, and ep.3 should have 4 running, and then? All in all I think ep.2 is a big improvement over ep.1
Might as well take this opportunity to write my opinion of other anime in this season:
toe mash wrote:Gosick - ugh, this is really silly and all but pretty fun to watch. It's a little similar to Occult Academy, I just hope it won't be as much of a shitfest.
GOSICKAs I said before, Gosick is really about Victorika, and never should much expectation be built upon the mystery. Depending on how Victorika is received, it will make or break the anime. From what I read in blogs in Japan, those anime fans seem to get it - they focus on the her and her interaction with other characters.
For me, I am not so much into gothic-clad loli who sound much older than her age, though I still consider she looks kind of cute. There is divided opinion about how this character is portrayed in the anime vs the novel or the manga. Some complain that in the novel she is supposed to have an old woman's voice, and she smokes a real pipe. I think for commerical reason the former is replaced by a young girl's voice, and for censorship reason she now looks like smoking a toy pipe. I also expected Yuuki Aoi would use the voice used in Samurai Girls for the more serious side of Yagyu Jubei (or perhaps with an even lower tone) to voice Victorika but she did not, so I am a bit disappointed. In the drama CD, her voice was done by Moruha but in the anime it was done by Madoka (Check
Puella Magi Madoka Magika to find out who Moruha and Madoka are) -- not sure if it is the best decision.... Also the fact that Victorika looked at things on the streets with heightened curiosity but looked all calm and cool seeing people meeting their demise begs belief.
One thing I particularly want to praise GOSICK is its OP. In terms of animation, Gosick is the most beautiful in this season's anime. The art noveau style popular in early 20th century makes much appearance here. And it also shows the loveliness of Victorika in abundance. Song for song I would still pick Claris' song in Puella Magi Madoka Magika but for the animation sequence I love Gosick the most.
Also I find that the author (a woman) made her name with Gosick but later won the Naoki award which is the most prestigious award in Japan for popular literature. Afterwards she stopped writing light novels, concentrating on novels instead, but she seemed to come back to Gosick after the decision for its animation was announced.
toe mash wrote:Mitsudomoe 2 - FFFUUU trolling us like that with the 1st episode. Although it was pretty funny and I didn't expect them to show Hitoha raging all over it. I liked the part where they did a lynch on the crab guy.
MITSUDOMOE ZOURYOUCHUDo you know what those Gachi-Rangers were saying when they lynched that crab monster?? 怒りを受け止めろ (ikari wo uketomero) -- Eat up our anger!! This is the most common comments I saw in Japan blogs -- to the anime production. Most (including me) were happy with some Gachi-Ranger starting the new series, but NOT 90% of it !! With more violence, more black humor, more sex perversion, and baka adults, and the first time death (of many children) shown in Mitsudomoe, it did not actually make it funnier. I think I laughed hardest when the 3 sisters came back on screen -- at least the anime staff knew they were doing a bad job when they were honest enough to show Hitoba hating it (and Mitsuba laughing contemptuously at it). There is also some suspicion that the production wanted to expand the sales related to this anime by exploiting Gachi-Ranger -- even the commercials were filled with Gachi-Rangers merchandise!!
For an unexpected start of a 2nd season I think Sora no Otoshimono did a much better job. Getting Tomoki to sing the 1st season OP but changing the animation to fit his "vision" was just brilliant. Many anime fans quoted that OP to be the most memorable scene in SoraOto 2nd season which persuaded them that the 2nd season should be as good as the first. Not sure about Mitsudomoe though, but if they really revert back to how 1st season was done it should be OK. There are 10 vol of manga so there should be enough material to work on.
No comment on OP/ED because ep.1 used a special "Gachi-Ranger" OP/ED.
KIMI NI TODOKE season 2The animation quality is as good as 1st season. The story keeps it like 1st season, meaning it sticks close to the manga including most of the dialogues. It is my belief that the dialogue is one important reason for the success of this anime (besides the wonderful character design and the balanced use of sparkles background or deformed characters).
The Valentine Day episode shows all the best from the manga and the anime. The story starts with the change of seats after winter holiday and Sawako being pushed to face her romance feeling towards Kazehaya because of the clumsy effort by Kurumi to split them up. How Sawako would deal with the first Valentine's Day after that episode has to be interesting. Even though I could guess how it would end, watching the events roll out is a most pleasant experience. It shows how much Sawako has changed AND how much she has NOT changed.
Still not used to the new OP/ED - I like the softer melody in 1st season more (at least for now)
TEGAMIBACHI REVERSE Entering into the second quarter of the series, it has a new OP/ED. Still love the old OP/ED songs better -- I think they conveyed better the mood of a fantasy world that is physically cold and barren but still could be filled with the warmth of heart from the human living there. On the other hand, the animation in the new ED is pretty funny -- chibi-Lag Seeing and Niche running in a game like background jumping obstacles and visiting cities is fun to watch.
The first quarter ended with Lag Seeing apparently finally succeeded in bringing back the "heart" (not all of it maybe) of Gauche and took him back to the "Bee Nest". The story is definitely moving closer to the center of the mystery -- what the central government has been doing and what horror lies behind the artificial sun. The story now moves faster with the recounting of the crash of a "survey" airship on the Day of Flicker and how much lasting damage and loss this had done to many of the characters at that time. The pace may not stay as fast in the coming episodes but I think the new quarter has started in good shape.
BAKUMANThe OP is a variation of the first OP song "Bluebird" but the ED has changed completely. Again I am still trying to get used to the new songs.
The story also enters a new phase with the increased screen time they now spent in Shonen Jack office or manga studio. The difference in approach and opinions between the editor and the pair of main lead sustained my interest, as is the borderline craziness from the prodigy Eiji. I particularly like the inclusion of the scene of 2 guys in their 20s/30s who could not help feeling bad at themselves as they were about to become Eiji's assistants.
I have heard some in the forum complained about the romance part dragging the anime. While I also think the pace of the anime is kind of slow, I attribute it to the fact that the manga also has a lot of text and it never uses too much space in the "action" part. The romance has to be there because it is the main incentive for Saikou and his reckless pursuit for serialization. One can argue that the very low-key interaction between Saikou and Azuki is too old-fashioned and underwhelming, but it has its appeal as a very romantic foundation stone on which all their effort are built upon. Nonetheless, the story will surely get more "actions" as Shonen Jack now takes center stage in place of high school.
TOARU MAJUTSU NO INDEX IIThe OP does not change -- Apparently the song "No Buts" is that popular. Well, I for me am happy that it stays as OP.
The story has finally moved past Daihaseisai (Big Star Festival) and vol.10 of the novel. Now the story moved overseas - to Chioggia (a coastal city 25km south of Venice). I can see the story will be more and more dominated by power factions from out of Academy City and the scale of the story will turn more global, which means the Magic side will make more appearance because while the Science side seems to be concentrated in the Academy City the Magic side is everywhere. The ED shows it very clearly -- it is almost all Index and NO Misaka !! (now I wanted to see more of Touma dancing with Mikasa in the festival -- it got only 3 seconds of screen time !!) The politics of the various churches and European countries (particularly UK and Russia) should take prominent place in the second quarter.
The new episode is kind of expected -- some scenes to have us laugh at Index loli action, some fan service time, and then serious scenes of some attacks and new mysterious antagonists. Only this time the scale is getting bigger --
a whole fleet of ghostly galleons is now at stake.
The light novel is ranked top in "Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi" in 2010, and Touma and Mikasa also got top slot in their respective character category (male and female character; Index got 3rd place). The appeal is to see how the anime adapts the story. The second quarter should cover vol.10-13 of the light novel.
By the way, only now did I realize the last name of Index is really Index (the first name is Librorum Prohibitorum) The Latin name of the list of forbidden books became a full name for a girl !
Also WTF Rie Kugimiya not playing a tsundere?! At least she's flat chested, though. 
Reason I was getting angry lately is because fanservice was screwing with plot (esp. in previous shit arc) but in this ep it was of no consequence. 
Well, that's the